Jaqueline Wilson is the new British children's laureate.

She'll hold the post for two years.

Maybe more people in the US will actually start reading her now.  That would be nice.

Do we even have a children's laureate?  I'll have to check on that.  [Edit:  As far as I can tell, we don't.  We're so lame.  And I'm not saying that in an annoying, "Oh, the British are so much better than us" kind of way.  I'm saying it in a "we're lame" kind of way.]

In semi-related news, the stupid Famous Five now have an animated TV show.  Because we just can't seem to let Enid Blyton's work gracefully fade away.  We have to keep bringing it back.  Over and over and over again.  As our friend Georgia might say, I am full of gag-osity.

God, if they actually reprint the books in the States, I'm going to have a hard time buying them all so that the stupid Blyton fans can't get them.